


Weight after water

by A_Nobelmonster



Series: Dead Ravens don't break [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Canon Abuse, Gen, M/M, Riko's blind devotion and need to be loved are the real killer here, child riko, kinda fluffy? i the beginning???, mama is riko's nanny, riko is sick growing up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 14:29:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10969152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Nobelmonster/pseuds/A_Nobelmonster
Summary: So um, saw a tweet by @shihoran talking about Riko being raised by a loving mother and….i totally nailed it. (not at all i just made myself sad).





	Weight after water

Mama say’s love is a gift and life is a gift.

That every day when Riko opens his eyes is a blessing for her.

She says she doesn’t want Riko to give up. 

Mama always looks sad at Riko. When she’s taking his temperature or they have to turn back to the house because his feet get too tired.

Riko’s been sick as long as mama’s looked like that.

Like he could die.

Like she doesn’t want him to.

“You have to eat Riko, please.” and when his lips seal hermetically as the jar from the apple sauce she tries to give him she has the magic word.

Ichirou.

He wants to know everything about older brother. He wants to know if brother likes dew in the grass or the smell of vanilla like Riko does. He wants to know if Ichirou feels an ache behind his lungs begging to be filled with something beautiful.

Like flowers. Like being able to say ‘Ichirou’ to the person instead of the concept.

Everything makes Riko sick. The applesauce. Even the vanilla perfume mama wears that makes Riko happy.

But Ichirou, papa, mama, they are the beacon of light when fever rolls in dense cotton fog behind his eyes. They are stubborn electrical synapses in his heart that beg one more rhythm off of god. 

Living for them makes taking all the icky medicine ok.

“One-day Ichirou & lord Kengo will see Riko play exy. They will sit in the stand and cheer so loudly. “

“Papa doesn’t wanna see me cause I’m sick. I’m not a good son like Ichirou mama.” It used to make Riko cry. That he was not picked too but Riko knows there was a reason.

When his coughing turns wet and rebellious like the war cry of the ailing body it is mama gets the cough syrup.

“You will take your medicine and rest and you will get better my little bird. Uncle will make you a strong player. Papa will want to see that Riko, I know this in my heart.” Riko doesn’t wanna say mama only believes this so Riko will take his medicine.

He only has one dream. That mama is right about one day looking into the stands and everything he has ever wanted waiting right there for him. It feels like a fever dream, only close enough when he’s burning hot at the sun kissing his brow where the phantom weight of a crown lay.

“If i get better mama, I’ll live for you and Ichirou and papa and uncle. I’ll work until I’m strong even if its hard, I won’t ever do anything to make you or anyone else disappointed. Every day I’ll be the son papa wants me to be.”

Riko will mark this day down in the veins of his muscles, the bones of his chest. A reverent promise because mama smiles just as rare as the vow he takes. She kisses his forehead like she always does when she wants to say I love you but can’t.

For so many days Riko watched the sun rise with his waking breath and close its eyes in tandem with his own and thought. What was he living for from this bed with only the drawn sadness of mama’s eyes for a view?

Thinking that he should say out loud, finally that he is ready to die, every day he makes that choice but then he gets his favorite blue blanket that was a present from mama to nap with and she sings her favorite songs to him and his tongue grows just as tired as his body

Living not for himself but others, the promise makes another day feel possible. Not disappointing papa, not making mama cry. those make Riko feel strong.

Every great warrior has a challenge and a vow to honor. To get up no matter how they are beaten down. To be honorable.

Even when Mama say’s she has to be someone elses nanny now that Riko is healthy enough he doesn’t break his promise.

Even when the master tells him that papa does not bother to learn Riko’s name because he already has a son that is not a mistake, Riko continues running laps propelled by the blood in his sneakers of opening blisters.

Riko breaks Kevin’s hand, the future of the only person to want Riko by their side without malice to save his own dream.

Kevin was not a part of the promise Riko made and now mama isn’t either just Lord Kengo, Ichirou-sama, and the master. Kevin made Riko want live for the future, his own future. Kevin made Riko selfish with kisses, hands that soothed broken ribs.

a warrior accepts the pain he is given as a gift for growth. Love numbed the hurt.

The life he lives was not his own or ever meant to be so Riko dismantles the hand of love. 

Kevin takes a part of Riko’s heart with him when he leaves. Riko doesn’t waver. He knows who owns him. 

It is not Riko the vessel that serves. It is not Kevin the fractured right hand of the raven king. It is not mama the sweetness of decaying youth.

It is the cage of hope that and Riko it’s many winged thing.


End file.
